Help me find the antidote to fight extremists in our own communities
OUR country faces a very serious threat from extremists – bigoted individuals and groups who want to turn communities against each other for political, religious or ideological causes.
Right now they are pushing out poisonous propaganda, exploiting grievances, provoking discrimination and sowing the seeds of violence.
Look at the case of London mosque “teacher” Umar Haque, found guilty earlier this month. This man, who had no teaching qualifications, attempted to build an army of child jihadis.
Police believe he tried to radicalise at least 110 children after students as young as 11 were shown videos of beheadings. He also re-enacted attacks on police.
Just one month earlier, the trial of the Finsbury Park terrorist Darren Osborne ended with him being given 43 years for a murderous attack on Muslims last summer.
In his sentencing, the judge remarked that Osborne was rapidly radicalised over the internet, encountering and consuming material from those determined to spread hatred of Muslims.
But the threat to our communities goes beyond those whose hateful influence may be linked to terror.
Extremists’ bigoted propaganda causes a multitude of harm. Extremists and their propaganda play a part in the rising number of hate crimes — including the increasing instances of anti-Muslim hatred and anti-Semitism.
Extremists contribute to the daily discrimination faced by women, girls and minorities and the isolation of vulnerable individuals from the very institutions set up to protect them.
I spoke to a youth worker in a town in the south of England who warned, chillingly, that if the far-Right “got its act together” there would be little to stop local young people being swept up.
In the same town, I also spoke to an imam, who shared his experience of scary far-Right demonstrations outside his mosque. But also his frustration that his own messages of tolerance and peace to young Muslims could not compete with the torrent of vile content that is being spread online by Islamist extremists.
I feel we are at a watershed moment in our understanding of extremism.
We are starting to see extremism as an issue that affects all communities and, as Met police leader Mark Rowley said recently, it requires a society-wide response. The Home Secretary has described this as one of the great challenges of our time.
Now it is time to have the difficult conversations about what we do.
The challenge is when we broach some of those difficult questions, we stop listening and start the usual arguments.
When I was appointed Independent Lead Commissioner For Countering Extremism, the debate focused on me rather than the issues.
I know why this happens. It’s a distraction technique — don’t play the ball, play the woman.
I know extremism isn’t easy to talk about — it crosses into the most challenging of debates. We may not always agree. In fact, we will passionately disagree. That’s OK.
I may have just started my new role but I’ve been fighting extremism all my life.
Like many Muslims, I have experienced extremism through the bigotry and anti-Muslim hatred of ignorant people. There was racist abuse in the playground. I’ve been spat at in the street.
After 9/11, a group of men outside a pub shouted “Here comes Bin Laden’s wife”, then followed me down the street jeering.
I was alone and utterly petrified.
The aims
- Get enough powers to fight extremism
- Protect youngsters from brainwashing
- Take evidence from extremism victims
- Produce an in-depth study on the problem
Since I was a teenager, I have seen how extremists target young people and spread their lies, hatred and conspiracy theories.
I was a young Muslim activist from Bradford. When hate preachers pushed their divisive propaganda at me and my friends to turn us against the society we live in, I co-founded an organisation to fight back.
And, along with other brave groups, we started to call out and confront the extremists. The backlash was fierce.
This was also the start of threats of violence to my family and vile racial slurs.
In 2015, I asked Sun readers to get behind a campaign against evil Daesh, or IS, propaganda.
Through the United Against IS campaign, we wanted to show extremists that we had Brits from all communities in our corner.
The response was overwhelming. With backing from The Sun and Government, I toured the country with other women activists.
Today, up and down our country, there are many courageous activists, faith leaders and local professionals fighting back. But it’s tough out there. We need everybody to speak out against hatred and bigotry.
Extremism thrives when the majority ignore it. And that is where the Independent Commission comes in.
I want to ask if we have the right powers to stop extremists pushing out their hateful messages.
I want to ask if there is more we can do to stop the viral spread of their poisonous propaganda.
I want to ask if there’s more we can do to protect young and vulnerable people from being brainwashed.
I want to talk to those who experience extremism when they go about their daily lives — women whose rights are undermined by extremists or young people whose friendships are broken up because of divisive propaganda.
My Commission will be a powerful antidote to the hatred.
It starts with a shared understanding and a wider acceptance of the problem we face.
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That is why I will publish a comprehensive study on the scale, consequences and response to extremism.
The Commission must unite those courageous individuals and groups standing up to extremists.
We need a powerful response. We cannot allow extremists to divide our country.
- Sara Khan is the Lead Commissioner For Countering Extremism